Yesterday, Today, and Rainy Days
by InnocentDiamond
Summary: Who knew that the rain determines what a person loves and hates? Who knew that the rain can bring back good and bad memories? Who knew that the rain can bring two people together in the most unexpected way? Everything started with a simple rain shower.
1. So Called Sunny Weather

The truck drove slowly down the highway as others vehicles around it slowed the traffic down. Apparently, nobody bothered to notice that the bulky truck was the only thing different among the small cars in were rushing to go somewhere but were stuck in this traffic jam.

"Auntie, are we there yet?" Alice asked as she sat in the front seat of the truck on a booster chair.

"No, Alice, but we'll be there soon. Just wait." Clara replied. _This is some traffic. Why the heck did I accept his request in the first place?!_ "You can eat the cookies that I put in the glove department."

Alice scooted forward and opened the glove box. There were a pack of chocolate chip cookies, and Alice took them out. "Do you have water?"

_This is going to take longer than I thought._ Clara reached for the net pocket on the back of her seat for something to drink. "Here. Open it slowly, or you'll spill everything." Clara looked out her car window to see the sun shining beautifully. "Then again, maybe it's not so much of a bad place after all. Except for the horrible traffic, you can really get a great view of here. Oh look, the cars are moving. Sit tightly, Alice." Alice put her food down as Clara stepped on the gas pedal.

"How long do we have to wait?" Alice asked.

Clara had a bright smile on her face. "Well, if traffic's going to speed up, I think that we'll be there by an hour." Sooner or later, Clara drove down the exit lane of the highway and was surrounded by houses.

Within an hour, Clara parked the truck in front of a whitewashed house. A man came out of the front door and waited for Clara and Alice to get out. Clara put the car in the parking position, applied the brakes and took her keys out of the ignition. "Dad, we're here! We need help with carrying the stuff."

"Oh, okay!" Dr. Gehabich yelled back. "Everyone, we need your help with carrying the stuff." More people came out the front door and took the furniture and stuff off the truck and into the house. "Thank you so much for coming, Clara. I don't know what would've happened if it wasn't for you."

"Don't worry, Dad. I promised to help you, so here I am. Alice, come over here. Say hi to Grandfather."

"Hi Grandfather." Alice greeted. Dr. Gehabich smiled as he patted her on the head. "Cookies?" she offered.

"No thanks, dear. I see that you've grown a lot. Why don't you step aside while we fix everything, okay?" Alice nodded to her grandfather's request and stood by the door.

Everyone inside was as busy as a colony of ants. Furniture was being moved, the carpets and rugs were adjusted, and the shelves were carried from one place to another. This was certainly a very busy moving in process, for the work never seemed like it was done.

"Alice, can you step aside? We need to apply the wallpaper." Clara asked. Alice walked away to an empty space.

"Move over, dear. The TV needs to go here." a neighbor asked. Alice moved away again, but someone would always tell her to step aside. Alice got tired of moving here and there in the house, so she stepped outside to the front of the house. Everyone was so busy that nobody noticed she wandered off into the street.

**~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~**

The clerk scanned the item put on the conveyor belt as she put them into bags. When she finished scanning the last item, the clerk pushed a few buttons on the screen. "$39.60, please."

"$39.60..." The girl took four ten-dollar bills out and handed it to the cashier. "Here you go. And Shun, I promise buy you something next time. I don't have enough money on me right now." She took her change and put the bags of gardening supplies in to the cart.

"Fine." Shun followed her as she out the cart away and took the bags of stuff. "Unei-nee, what's all this for?" He offered to carry some of the bags.

"Well, I promised my neighbor that I'd help them by gardening supplies to help with today's park beautification. Besides, it's a sunny day. Great for gardening." Unei replied. Soon, they arrived at the park, where people were putting gloves on and getting ready. "Good morning, everyone. Here are the supplies and the flowers that we're planting."

Some people took a trowel while others took spades and shovels. Unei took a map of the park out and assigned which plants were going to be planted where.

"Gardenias go near the front gate, peonies over at the back gate, a ring of marigolds around the fountain, daisies by these picnic tables, jasmines by those picnic tables..." Once Unei finished giving out orders, everyone went to their designated stations.

Shun went over to the flowers and looked at them. "They're all so different. Why can't we buy just one kind and make the problem easier?"

Unei knelt down next to Shun. "Because a variety of different things look a lot better. It would very boring if all the flowers were the same everywhere. People get tired of seeing the same thing over and over, so I chose a lot of flowers. Now step aside and don't touch them."

Unei handed the designated flowers and flower seeds to each person. Soon, all the flowers were gone, and someone yelled to Unei. "We need watering cans, Unei! And hedge clippers as well."

"Hedge clippers? Well, I hope you guys brought them today because I certainly didn't buy them." Luckily, there were hedge clippers in the storage box. "Shun, could you please fill some watering cans with water? Then go to each station and water the flowers for them."

"Oh." Shun took the watering cans and went to the nearest water faucet and turned on the water. He managed to fill every watering can when he just realized that he didn't know where he was. "Unei-nee? Where are you?"

At Dr. Gehabich's house, all the work was finally finished. "Finally, a break." Clara sighed, but then realized something. "Alice? Where's Alice?" Everyone looked around the house, but she was nowhere to be seen.

"Could she have gone outside?" the doctor asked.

"If so, then that's bad." someone replied. "It's starting to rain." The woman was right. The sky became a patch of soft gray now.

Unei paced around as she waited for Shun to come back. "Guys, bad news. I told Shun to fill some watering cans for us, but he hasn't come back."

"Well, the good news is that the upcoming rain will do the watering. The bad news is that Shun's going to catch a cold." someone commented. Unei fainted when she heard about the rain. "Help! Unei fainted!"

As people rushed over to help Unei, Shun looked up to the sky and saw that it was going to rain. _Better stay under a tree for now._ While carrying the heavy watering cans, Shun sat under a nearby tree to stay dry.

Alice also wandered her way to the park and also realized the cloudy sky. _And I thought it was going to be a sunny day._ Alice ran to the first tree she saw and sat next to the tree trunk. Raindrops fell down to the ground, and it soon made puddles on the sidewalk. Alice trembled, for she wasn't used to wet, rainy weather. She became scared and went to see the _other_ side of the tree.

Shun, hearing some rustling sounds behind him, stood up. He turned around, face to face with another girl. Alice also looked back at him.

"Who are you?"


	2. First Rain Shower

Shun and Alice were still staring at each other, but a heavy drop of rainwater broke that trance. Unfortunately, this tree didn't have enough leaves and branches to keep them dry.

"Come on," Shun offered. "I know another place where we can safe and dry." He took Alice by her hand and took her somewhere through the rain. Soon, they arrived at a gazebo, where the ground was completely dry, except for two dripping kids. They panted and sat down on the ground.

"You're right. This is very dry." Alice dried herself off while Shun put the watering cans away. "Do you know this place very well? Even I couldn't find my way through this weather. Achoo!" Alice was only wearing a T-shirt and shorts, for it _was _going to be a sunny day today.

"Here." Shun took his jacket off and gave it to Alice. "I'm Shun Kazami, and I live not far from here for a long time, so I know my neighborhood really well. Are you new here?"

"Thanks, Shun. I'm Alice Gehabich. I was supposed to come here with Auntie, but after we got here, I got lost." Alice stared out into the rain as she put on his jacket. "Is it always this rainy in Wardington? It was sunny when we were on the road."

"Actually, I _do_ live in Wardington, but sometimes I go visit my father during Thanksgiving and Christmas season, so I never really seen a real rain shower here." Suddenly, Shun heard a familiar voice call his name. "Unei-nee! Over here!'

Unei happened to have umbrella from nowhere and ran to the gazebo. "Shun! There you are! You must be freezing in this weather." She took some napkin out and dried his hair and face. "Did you happen to see a little girl around your age around here?"

"A girl around my age? You mean Alice, right?" Shun stepped aside to let Unei see Alice. "I happened to see her earlier under the trees."

"Well, we killed two birds with one stone." Unei gave her jacket to Shun and moved toward Alice. "Hi Alice. I'm Unei Kogawa. Your guardians are at the front of the park all worried about you." She dried Alice's face and hair as well.

"Really? I didn't mean to wander of like that. Thanks for telling me." Alice apologized. "I hope Auntie has umbrellas. It wasn't supposed to rain today."

Unei took out another umbrella and opened it. "That's unpredictable, you know. Here. Why don't you guys use the bigger umbrella while I use the small one? I didn't bring enough umbrellas for all of us." Unei switched the umbrellas and carried the smaller one.

"I'll carry it. You're starting to get a cold." Shun took the umbrella and carried it above his and Alice's heads. They followed Unei all the way to where the park volunteers and Alice's aunt were. A tent was set up, for there were no umbrellas brought here in advance.

"Alice! Thank goodness you're back!" Clara ran out into the rain to hug Alice. "Alice, please don't wander off anywhere. Sorry that you didn't have much of any fun here yet, but once your grandfather's house is finished redecorating, I promise that I'll spend time with you, okay?" Clara pinkie promised Alice and went under the tent. She looked at Shun and Unei and said, "Thanks for watching over her for that time. I'm Clara Gehabich." Clara right put her hand out.

"I'm Unei Kogawa, and this is Shun Kazami. It was a good thing that Alice was Shun during the rain because Alice probably didn't know where to go." Unei shook Clara's hand. "I know it's tough to be new around the neighborhood, and you can ask us for help whenever you want."

"Thank you so much, Unei, although we might not be staying here for long. I'm just here to help my dad with moving, that's all." She looked at Alice, who still stood by Shun, and then the sky, in which the rain started to cease. "Unei, do you mind of Alice stays with you and Shun for now? There's a lot more work to be done, and I can't watch over her."

"No problem. Shun and Alice can play around the park while we finish our work. Here's my cell phone number and address if need anything." Clara hugged one more time before leaving with the others, and the volunteers went back home, for the plants were already watered.

"Well, I guess we could go over to Shun's house for now." Unei suggested. "I can't go back home until all the carpeting has been replaced with wooden floorboards. What do you think, Shun?" Shun was already walking across the street with Alice without Unei knowing. _That was fast._ Unei ran as fast as she could to catch up to them.

At Shun's house, nobody was home. A note was on the door of the refrigerator. " 'Went to help the doctor with remodeling his house. - Shiori' Looks like your mother went to help Alice's grandfather with remodeling his house." Unei read the note out loud. "Shun, get some dry towels and a warmer jacket. Alice looks like she caught a cold." Shun nodded and came back with a furry winter jacket and towels. "Thanks, Shun. You watch over Alice while I make some tea for her. Let's see...green tea or ginseng?"

"Ginseng." Alice replied. Unei looked through the cupboards as Alice looked around the house. "Your house is really big, Shun. Do you live here with your mom?"

"My mom and my grandfather. I told you about my father, right? Anyway, let's show you around the house." Shun took Alice down the hallways to each and every room, except for his mom's and grandfather's.

Later, Unei finished boiling the tea and handed both Alice and Shun a cup. "Careful, it's hot. You might want to sit at the dinner table." Alice and Shun each took a seat and drank their tea. "Here are some oatmeal raisin cookies if you're hungry." Immediately, Shun grabbed the first cookie in the box. "Shun! Where are you manners?"

"Sorry, Unei-nee." he apologized. "Alice, you want one? Feel free to eat them." Alice put her hand out and snatched a cookie as well. "My mom made them herself. Right, Unei-nee?"

"And apparently, it's unsafe to eat unbaked cookie dough, _Shun_." she emphasized. "I'll go check up on the laundry. You two eat and have fun." Once Unei went out the back door, Shun took an entire plate.

"Hey, I want one." Alice complained. She reached over to Shun as far as she could, but Shun had the plate in his other hand where Alice couldn't reach it. "Give me it!"

"Okay, okay. Here." Shun broke one of the cookies in half and gave one piece to her. "Here's your cookie."

"I want a whole cookie!" Just as Alice was going to knock Shun over, Unei let out a loud cry. "What was that?"

"Unei-nee, what happened?" Shun and Alice ran to the backyard to see Unei carrying handfuls of clothes. "It's raining again."

"Ugh. These clothes were on the line for less than an hour, and now it's raining again." Unei carried every piece of clothing by the hanger into the laundry room. "You don't want to stay out there. It's going to get wet and cold."

"We don't mind. This _is_ our first rain shower after all." Shun replied.

"Second." Alice added. "The first one was still rain, but we were unprepared." Shun and Alice sat on the chairs on the deck and watched the raindrops fall down from the gray sky as they drank tea and ate cookies.

"I never expected to meet someone new on a rainy day. Did you?" Shun asked.

"I never expected that rainy days can also be a good thing."


	3. A Nice Conversation

Shun and Alice looked inside Dr. Gehabich's house through the front window to see everyone working. It was a fairly smooth process until Clara came out with a makeshift megaphone and started yelling.

"People! The sofas shouldn't block the windows in any way, the blinds need to be closed and _then_ opened later, and why the heck is this carpet crooked?" Clara kicked the carpet a little. "Can somebody go outside to see if Shiori and what's-his-name are back with paint and primer? The walls are all bare now."

"Your aunt seems pretty strict about this. It's not like this is her house, is it?" Shun asked. "To tell you the truth, I've never really been here before."

"Well, let's just say that Auntie's the type that wants to get moving, but sometimes her leadership gets in the way of function."

"I can see what you mean by that." Shun got down and sat on the rocks nearby. "So you're seven, right? Are you in second grade or what?"

"I'm turning seven soon, and yes, I'm a second grader. Right now, we're on winter break, so I'm coming with Auntie. You?"

"We just started winter break as well. Most of my friends are on vacation somewhere with their families, but I'm stuck here doing nothing. At least you get to come here for winter break. Better than staying at home all the time."

"Wait. I though you told me that you went to see your father during winter break? What happened to that?" Alice realized that she accidentally said something she wasn't supposed to say.

"I do, but that depends on what my parents decide on. I have no idea what my grandfather is doing right now, but I doubt that he's going to take us anywhere. He's more concerned about training than the holidays." Suddenly, Alice started giggling. "What's so funny about it?"

"It's just that you actually have a better life than me. At home, I only have Auntie to take care of me. My parents aren't here anymore, Grandfather lives all the way here in Wardington, and I don't have many friends. Meeting you is a huge impact in my life already."

Shun to the side as Alice giggled again. "Well, for me, at least I have someone to talk to during the break. Unei-nee isn't always the best of friends."

Alice stopped laughing and looked up. "I almost forgot. Who is Unei? I know that she's like an older sister to you, but who is she? And what do you mean by 'not the best of friends'?"

"Unei _is _like an older sister to me. Whenever my mom or grandfather is out or too busy, Unei-nee always comes over to watch over me. For some reason, she's not here today, but seeing that you're here, my mom decided to bring me here. That way, I don't get bored."

"Well, at least both of us aren't bored." Alice looked around. "Shun, do you know the neighborhood _really_ well?"

"Yeah. I know this part of the neighborhood like my back yard. Why?"

Alice looked around again. "Can you show-" Suddenly, a car parked in front of Dr. Gehabich's house.

"Clara! Where do you want us to put the paints and primers?" Shiori got off the van and unloaded the buckets. "Hi Shun. Hope you're not bored here. I'm sorry that you had to come with me here, but I didn't expect Unei to call at the last minute that she couldn't come. Very surprising and sudden." She greeted Alice as well and went inside.

"See what I mean? Usually, Unei-nee is always here to babysit me no matter how tough her homework gets, but today was an exception. Maybe her homework is taking over her for the first time. By the way, what were you going to ask me earlier?"

"Oh, nothing. What do you mean, 'maybe her homework's is taking over her'? Is Unei, like, really busy with something?"

"Unei-nee is a 9th grader, so she has a lot more homework than us. Normally, she tends to finish everything in time, but who knows what she's doing today. But she's still my closest friend, second to Dan, that is."

"And you treat her like a sister as well, right? Wait, who's Dan?"

"Dan's one of my other friends from school, along with Runo, Julie, Billy, and along with a lot of other people. Overall, I trust Unei the most because she was always there for me."

"Unei must be a really important person to you. It's ironic how she's not here right now..."

"I know, right? Why don't we talk about you? Is there anyone like Unei that been there to help you?"

"Auntie was always there for me, every single time, ever since I lost my parents. Then here comes my grandfather. I have no idea why he would want to move here away from us, but it's his decision. Wardington and Bayview aren't _that_ far away, now that you come to think of it."

"Lucky. My father lives all the way across the bridge. It takes 5 hours to get there, and my mother gets really irritated about always having her drive me there. She thinks that my father should come over to pick me up, but I won't get into details. So where _is_ Bayview?"

"Bayview?" Alice thought about it for a moment. "Um, it took Auntie 2 or 3 hours to get here by truck, but because there was a horrible traffic jam, so maybe it takes a lot less time. Have you been to other places other than where you father lives?"

It was Shun's turn to think for a moment. "Well, I remember going to this forest-looking place once to go camping, but I don't remember quite well." Suddenly, the sunshine that was shining on the kids earlier slowed faded. "Aw man, it's raining again."

"And cold again, too." Alice was only wearing a t-shirt up with sleeves only up to her elbows and capris that went halfway up to her calves. "I'll go get a jacket from inside." Just as Alice was going to go walk in the living room, a huge rush of water fell down from the roof. "Ah!"

"Alice!" Shun pulled her by the hand outside as everyone stared at the leak in the ceiling. "Are you okay?"

"This is horrible. How did that leak start in the first place?" Clara stared at the drops of water. "This is going to be tougher than I thought."

Just then, somebody came running toward the house. "Shun! Shiori-san!" It was Unei carrying umbrellas in her hands. "Sorry that I couldn't come earlier. Shiori-san, Clara-san, do you want me to take the kids to my house for now? I happened to see the rush of water from the ceiling."

"Perfect timing, Unei! Take the kids away right now." Shiori replied. "I don't want the kids to get wet."

Unei handed Shun and Alice each an umbrella and took them to her house. "So, how was today? Hope you didn't miss me."

"Oh, I didn't miss you at all. Alice was here the _entire_ time that we didn't need you." Shun replied. Alice looked at him awkwardly, but Unei glared at him. "It's kind of true..." he whispered to Alice.

"That's nice." Unei replied sarcastically. "Well, thank goodness I came here in time. If not, then-"

"Can we hurry up? I want to make a cake when we get to your house." Shun interrupted.

_Did he just say to make a cake? _"Well...would you like Alice to help you instead of me?" _Let's see what he's going to say._

"I was just going to say that."

Without thinking, all 3 of them just started laughing. "Okay, Shun. We can make a cake when we get to my house. The vinyl tiles in the kitchen should be done installing by now." Shun and Alice followed Unei in the rain as they crossed the street.


	4. Thunderstorm

Unei looked through the refrigerator for the leftover slices of cake from a few days ago while Shun and Alice cleared and set the table.

"Well, we have exactly 3 slices of cake left." Unei took the carrier out and went to get some paper plates and utensils. "Do you want to make another cake later? This cake tasted really delicious with 3 people's work, so I wonder if the next one will taste as good."

"Will it still taste this good even after a couple of days in the refrigerator?" Shun asked. "It's not like the ice cream cake that we kept in the freezer for your 13th birthday, Unei-nee."

"Ice cream cake? I want to try that. What is it? Is it good?" By the way Alice spoke, it seems that she never seen or tasted an ice cream cake.

"We could make an ice cream cake if you want, Shun, as long as you don't act all smart around me. And Alice, an ice cream cake a like a regular cake with extra frosting and any flavored ice cream in the center. What's your favorite ice cream flavor?"

"Why don't we make a mint ice cream cake? That's would taste great." Again, Shun was getting in the way.

"Well, a strawberry ice cream cake would be nice. We can make it from a regular strawberry cake. Besides, how many people actually like the flavor mint? It tastes weird."

"I can always say that strawberry tastes weird because it's so sweet." Shun argued. "I like mint the way I like it, and we're not making a strawberry ice cream cake."

"Yes, we are!"

"No we aren't!"

"Yes, we are!"

"No, we aren't"

"Okay, stop it!" Unei barged in between the 2 kids that were arguing with each other across the table. "How about if we make a chocolate ice cream cake? That's the perfect pairing, right?" Shun and Alice nodded. "Now, the first step in doing that is to go buy the ingredients in the store, because there is no chocolate ice cream in my refrigerator. Now let's eat our slice of cake and move on!"

"Yes, Unei-nee." Shun and Alice replied simultaneously.

**~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~**

Unei, Shun, and Alice were at the local supermarket looking for cake mix, frosting mix, and chocolate ice cream. In addition to the ingredients, Unei also bought some snacks, including mochi, cookies, and other candy. Once they finished paying for everything, the trio started walking home along when Unei suddenly stopped.

"Here. Why don't we stop here to eat something for now? That piece of cake wasn't very filling because I cut a small slice for myself and big slices for you guys." She got up and read the receipt. "Oh no, I forgot to buy something. Shun, Alice, can you guys stay here for now while I go back to buy something? It'll be really quick." Unei ran off without listening to what Shun and Alice had to say.

"Well, seems like she forgot to buy something important." Shun concluded. "Unei-nee wouldn't just leave us like that. Anyway, let's eat." Shun grabbed a box of green tea mochi which happened to be grabbed by Alice as well. "Alice, do you mind?"

"Do I mind?" Alice looked at Shun as if _he_ was the one stealing the box of mochi. "I saw it first, so shouldn't it be mine? Besides, you always get to eat the mochi around here. Shouldn't you let me have this box?"

"It doesn't matter who got the box first or who doesn't eat this as often. It's my favorite, so this box is mine!" Shun literally yanked it out of Alice's hands.

"Eh, that's not nice. And that hurts you know." Alice to take the box out of Shun's hands, but the box flew out of their hands and tumbled down the slanted areas of grass. "See what you did? Now it's wet and muddy." Alice was going to run across the paths to get that box of mochi when the sky turned dark again and started rumbling.

_Not good. It looks like it's going to rain again._ "Alice! Come back!" No matter how loud Shun yelled, Alice was too far away to hear him. He ran after her and kept yelling, "Alice! Get back here!" He eventually got to Alice and took her hand.

"Shun, let go! That box of mochi-" Before she could finish her sentence, Shun brought her bag to the grocery bags ninja style as fast as he could. "Oh no, it's raining really hard now." Alice was right. The raindrops got heavier and louder as they collected on the branches of the tree. Suddenly, a fall of cold, freezing water splashed down next of Alice. "Ah!" Before she knew it, Alice was in Shun's arms.

"Are you okay? I know it's freezing, but you shouldn't go out to get a box of mochi because of that." In addition to cold rain and dark skies, a flash of light shone, followed by a loud rumble.

"Ah!" Alice got scared and got closer into Shun's arms. _He's not mad at me at all._ Shun let go of her and ran off in the rain. "Shun, where are you going?" It was Shun's turn to not be able to here Alice. Next herself, Alice saw that Shun took off his jacket. _Should I wear it? I am freezing. _Alice took his jacket and put it on.

Later, a wet and dripping Shun came back. "Found it." In his hands was that box of mochi that they accidentally threw away. "You can have it."

Alice looked Shun with a very shocked look. "You gave me my jacket to run off into the cold rain just to get a wet box of mochi back to me?" Shun nodded. "Shun...you're_ stupid!_ You're giving me this just because it's wet, and you don't want it."

Shun didn't seem one bit happy about it. "Really? Then I'm eating the entire box myself. This happened to be the _only_ box of mochi that Unei-nee bought. I'm going to eat it now..." Shun took a piece of mochi and began eating it in slow motion.

Alice couldn't help but feel jealous. "Okay, I'm sorry. Can I please have a piece of mochi now?" Shun gladly offered the box to her. "Thanks!" Another flash of lightning and rumble of thunder, and Alice yelled and went into Shun's arms again.

"Are you really that scared of thunder and lightning?" Shun asked. "Then again, it's kind of weird that a small rain shower could get this serious. And I'm-achoo!"

"I told you." Alice replied. "You shouldn't have run into the rain like that." Later, Unei came back with more grocery bags.

"Oh dear, Shun! Are you alright? Why are you so wet? Here." Unei handed Alice and Shun each an umbrella. "What did you do while I was gone?"

"It's a long story, Unei-nee. Why don't we go back home first?" Shun suggested.

Unei looked around. "Well, we can't actually go anywhere in this kind of weather, and staying here won't do us any good. I guess we'll just have to wait here under our umbrellas."

"Unei-nee, what did you go buy?" Shun asked.

"I needed to buy these umbrellas and some other stuff. Let's just wait here until my mom comes to pick us up.

"What..." Shun and Alice replied simultaneously.

"Eh. Don't get me wrong. At least you have a cuddle buddy for now."

"What?!"

"Oh, nothing. Let's just wait..."


	5. No Umbrellas For One Day

It rained for a few days consecutively, which meant that Alice and Shun weren't allowed to go outside and play. Alice looked out through the window from her grandfather's house to see rain splattering on the glass. The remodeling crew didn't come today not only because it was raining, but the leak in the ceiling still needed to be fixed so that everything else could proceed.

"This has to be like the worst leak I've ever seen." Clara exclaimed as she tried to plug the leak. "What could've caused this? And Dad, has this ever happened in the past? It's very unimaginable."

"Well, it _is_ kind of awkward that the roof would suddenly leak." Dr. Gehabich replied. "I think there's a leak fixing kit in the house somewhere, but I forgot where I put sit. Do you want to look around the house?"

"That's going to take some time, but if we just plug this leak for now and change plugs every few minutes, we should stall enough time." Clara got off the ladder and wiped her hands dry. "Let's start with the basement. It the best place to store things that we rarely use." Clara and Dr. Gehabich were out of sight, but Alice was still looking outside the window.

_What a rainy __and__ boring day. I can't go out to play with Shun or Unei-nee in this weather._ Alice got off the stool and was going to the kitchen when the phone rang. "Auntie! Grandfather! The telephone is ringing!" Nobody responded, which made Alice a little nervous. _Should I answer it or just let it ring?_ Alice looked back between the kitchen and the phone and decided to answer the phone. "Hello? Gehabich residence?"

"Alice? Is that you? This is Unei." It was Unei who called, so Alice felt relieved. "I didn't know you knew how to answer the telephone. Anyway, is your aunt or grandfather there right now?"

"Hi Unei-nee. They're downstairs in the basement and can't hear the phone. I was nervous at first about answering the phone, but since it was you, I felt a lot better. I'll go call them-"

"It's okay. You don't have to get them. I can always talk to them later. Anyway, I know it's raining outside and you can't come out to play, but once it stops raining, do you want to meet us at the park? Shun was nagging me earlier for a long time about wanting to see you, but I told him that it was raining and that we had to wait. Ask your aunt and grandfather first. I have to go now."

"Oh, okay. I'll tell them. Bye!" Alice hung up and went downstairs to the basement. "Auntie! Grandfather! May I go to the park when it stops raining?" Neither Clara nor Dr. Gehabich responded, and the rain just happened to stop. _The rain stopped, __and__ I really want to go play with Shun __and__ Unei-nee._ Alice tip-toed up back to ground floor and went outside. After looking up to see the clouds going away to reveal the shining sun, Alice skipped down the street to the park.

**~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~**

"Are you sure she's going to come? What if Alice doesn't get here?" Shun was annoying Unei with all those what-if questions. "What if she had accident on the way here?"

"Shun Kazami, will you please be quiet? Even if Alice doesn't come, we can always go to her grandfather comes. And don't say that Alice had an accident. It sounds so wrong." She shivered a little at the thought. "Oh look. There's your girl over there. Alice!"

_There's your girl?_ Shun blushed slightly at the thought as he watched Alice come over. "Alice! What took you so long?"

"Sorry for being late, guys! Hi Shun, hi Unei-nee." Alice greeted. "So what are we going to do now?" Unei and Shun had a surprised expression on their faces.

"That's right. Shun, what _are_ we going to do? You said that you wanted to see Alice, but...can you be more specific?" Unei asked. "You have to stop being so vague."

"I, uh-" Suddenly, Shun had a thought. "Why don't we play hide-and-seek?" Unei and Alice looked at each other.

"Hide-and-seek? But it's really wet out here. I don't want to get wet." Alice complained.

Unei looked up at the sky. "I almost forgot. We might need umbrellas. The weather report said that today was going to be sudden sunlight with recurring rain. Do you want to come with-" Before she finished her sentence, Shun and Alice were already gone. _I thought Alice didn't want to play hide-__and__-seek._ "If you can hear me," Unei yelled. "I'm just going to go back to my house to get umbrellas and maybe towels. Don't go anywhere far away!" Unei looked around one more time to see if the kids heard her and left.

Meanwhile, hide-and-seek already started. Along with another rain shower. Alice ran out from her original hiding place of low bushes to under a tree. "Aw man, it's raining ag-"

"Found you!" Alice looked up to see Shun. "You know, you should've just stayed there."

"Yeah, but it was raining, and I need something to cover the water-" Suddenly, Shun wrapped Alice in his arms to protect her from the rain. _Is he really...? But won't he get wet? _The rain fell slowly on top of the kids, but Shun endured most of cold and water as he had his hands around Alice.

"You know what we should do?" he asked. Alice looked up at him. "Promise that you won't overreact about being wet." Alice gave Shun a nod in agreement. "You sure? Okay then. Here we go!" Shun took Alice by her hand as they ran out to the sidewalk in the rain.

"Ah! What are you thinking?" Alice let go, but she remained standing in the rain. "We could get sick from being wet!"

Shun's hair was all wet now. "I thought that we might try spending a day together with no umbrellas. Like, Unei-nee always gets umbrellas when it rains, but I want to see how it feels to be truly in the rain." He held his hand out. "You still want to stay out in the rain?"

Alice thought about it for a moment and held onto Shun's hand. "And if I get sick, are you going to get sick with me as well?"

"What makes you think that we'll really get sick? Come on!" Shun ran again while holding on to Alice's hand even tighter. Then he turned around in a spin, and Alice landed in Shun's arms. "Are you okay?"

Alice didn't look up, but it was hard to tell because her bangs were wet and covered her eyes. Shun was starting to freak out, but all of a sudden, Alice spoke up. "Are you crazy? This is like the best thing I've ever done!" Alice did a twirl in the rain as the rain fell from the sky.

"Shun! Alice! I'm b-" Unei was so shocked to see the kids playing in the rain. _I guess they won't need the umbrellas or the towels. They look so happy together._ Unei quietly stepped aside so that they didn't see her. _I wouldn't want to interrupt them._

"See? I told you that this would be fun. Who knew that the rain can do more than just bringing two people together?" Shun asked.

"I did. And not only is this fun, this is spectacular! I'm umbrella-free!" Alice and Shun laughed and played in the rain for the entire time.


	6. Yours To Keep

"...Well, at least it says 36*C. That's not a fever, but very close to it. Feeling any better, Shun?" Unei read the thermometer that she used to measure Shun. "What _were _you thinking, going out into the rain like that."

"Sorry, Unei-nee. I just wanted go outside and play, that's-achoo!" Even if the thermometer said that Shun didn't have a fever, he technically still had a fever.

Unei sighed. "I may be able to cover for you about your fever, but anything happens to Alice, I can't help her. Please get better soon." She wiped Shun's forehead with a damp towel.

"I'm very, very sorry." Shun sneezed again and wrapped that blanket tighter around him. "Wait, I want to get something." Shun got out of bed without his blanket and searched inside his closet.

"Shun! Get back here! You're going to be cold." Unei put all her stuff down and went after Shun, who suddenly took out some boxes of stuff. "What are you doing? Your 'fever' is getting better, and you want to make it worse?"

"Just wait, I'm almost done." In reality, Shun actually took a long time to get what he needed to find. "Found it."

"Shun, get back in bed before I tell your mom that you were doing random stuff again." Unei was serious, and Shun seemed to get her point now. "What _are_ you looking for?"

"Unei-nee, can you call Alice again?" Shun asked. "I'm going to see her this one time and _then_ go to sleep and rest."

"NO, Shun. Please go to bed NOW. Did getting better from that fever of yours really hocked your mind and senses? If so, then I'd like that to happen to me so that I can finish my homework."

"Please, Unei-nee! I just want to give Alice something." Shun begged Unei with puppy eyes. "Please."

Unei sighed once more and gave in. "Fine. I'll let you see her this one time, but you'd better get to bed afterwards. What are you going to give her?"

"Just-" Shun sneezed again. "-something special." He held on to the box tightly as he waited eagerly for Unei to dial Alice's number.

**~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~**

"...My goodness! I can't believe that the thermometer says 104*F." Clara quickly grabbed a towel, soaked it in warm lukewarm water, wringed it, and placed it on Alice's forehead. "What did I tell you about running away and going anywhere without our permission? You could've gotten into an even dangerous state!"

"I'm sorry, Auntie, but I really wanted to go to the park." Alice's condition was even worse than Shun's. "Unei-nee called and told me to come to the park, so I went there."

"Unei? I thought she was the type that would ask for authority before doing something. I need to make a complaint." Clara was about to call Unei when Alice tugged on Clara's sleeve.

"She did. Unei-nee told me to ask you first before going, but you and Grandfather were both in the basement and couldn't hear me. I don't know what Unei's number is, so I just went."

Clara shook her head. "Alice, you should've told us at least something. Did you know that you didn't even wake up for a couple days until really early this morning? You had us all worried. Your grandfather almost had a heart attack because of that."

Alice looked as if she was going to cry, but Clara put her hand on Alice's cheek for just in case. "I'm sorry that we have to keep you in here from now on, Alice, but it's for your own good, okay?" Alice kept looking down. "We only a have a couple days of remodeling left, and then we can go home. Just a little longer, okay?"

Alice suddenly looked up with a shocked expression. _What? We're leaving?! No, we can't go home yet! Not without saying goodbye to Shun. _Clara was called to help out and went downstairs, leaving Alice herself in her room. _I need to find a way to tell Shun __and__ Unei-nee that I'm leaving._

Suddenly, there was a knock on the window. "Alice..." whispered the person outside. Alice was still pretty drowsy, and the voice was very faint itself. "Alice, are you there?"

"Who is it?" Alice asked tiredly. She got out of bed and to the window. However, the window was too high for Alice outside from.

Suddenly, a figure appeared on the windowsill. "It's me, Shun. Can I come in? I'm something very important."

Alice immediately felt better. "Hi Shun! Just wait. I need to get a chair." Alice looked around to see what would be a good thing to help her reach the window. Her eyes laid on the trash basket. She flipped it over, dumped the trash out, and put it by the window. It was just the right height, and Alice opened the window.

"Thanks, Alice." Shun reached in the pocket the box that he was clutching onto earlier and but then saw the medical equipment all around the room. "Are you sick as well?"

"Mm-hm. I have a terrible fever and just woke up early this morning. You?"

"Unei says that I'm getting better, but I don't feel any better. I have something for you." Shun handed the box to Alice, who looked at it in astonishment.

"What is it?" Alice took the box and observed it.

"Open it."

Alice opened it and saw a beautiful piece of partially gold-plated jade in the shape of a curled bird's wing attached on a red string. "It's beautiful. What is it?"

"It's a lucky charm that my father gave me. He said that it'll bring luck and good things, such as meeting you." Alice blushed at the thought. "And I want _you_ to keep it, seeing that you're sick as well."

"Wait, I can keep it? But won't you mind? I mean, your father gave it to you, so it must be pretty special. I can't accept it." Alice closed the box and handed it back, but Shun didn't want it.

"No, really, I'm serious. You can keep it. I didn't know what to do during this winter break without you, and this is way better than seeing my father, but don't think of it that way." Seeing Shun so happy made Alice happy as well, but then she remembered what her aunt told her about leaving soon.

_I can't tell Shun that I'm leaving in a couple of days. He seems so happy to have me around here, __and__ so do I. If I don't accept his present __and__ tell him that I'm leaving soon, that would make the problem even worse._ Alice, torn between accepting the gift and whether or not she should tell Shun that she would be leaving soon, really didn't know what to do right now. "Alice, are you okay?"

Alice looked up with a smile on her face.

"Oh, nothing!" she lied. "I'm just worried that Auntie might come in. Thanks for the present. I'll pay you back someday." Lying to Shun and seeing how he looked so happy made her feel really guilty.

"You don't have to pay me back, Alice. You-" Somebody was coming upstairs into Alice's room. "I have to go now. I think your aunt's coming back. Bye Alice!" Shun gave Alice a kiss in the forehead before leaving. "Get better soon. See you next time."

Alice blushed even more. "Bye Shun. See you next time." _But when exactly IS next time going to be?_ Alice closed the window, got down from the trash can, and put everything back to the way it was. She went back to bed thinking,_ I have to find a way to give this back to Shun before I leave. I can't keep something very important of his __and__ just leave._


	7. Not Even A Goodbye

"Bye everyone! Thank you so much for helping out! We really appreciate it." Clara and Dr. Gehabich yelled as the neighbors went out the door and headed back home. "Have a great Christmas!"

Meanwhile, Alice was still in her room, looking at the jade charm that Shun gave her the other day. _It certainly is beautiful. I really don't want to give it away, but I have to. _Alice got up and put the charm back into the box when she found a piece of paper stuck in the cushion lining. She pulled it out and read it.

_"To the one __and__ only girl who made my days felt a lot better."_

After reading it, Alice immediately burst into tears. Clara, who happened to come upstairs to pack up, saw Alice and her make somewhat snorting sounds. "Alice, are you crying?"

Alice looked up to see Clara standing at the door. "No, I'm not. My nose is getting a little runny again." She got up to the tissue box and blew her nose. "Are we leaving yet?"

"I wish we could, but I still have to help your grandfather patch up that last hole in the roof. It started leaking again after everyone else left, so we have to wait somewhere within an hour before leaving." Clara gave Alice a pat on the head before going. "Don't forget to pack your stuff up."

"I will." Alice threw the tissue away and put the jade charm back into the box, _along_ with Shun's note. _If I have time, I should be able to run to Shun's house, drop this off, __and__ come back without anyone noticing._ Alice went downstairs, checked to see if her aunt and grandfather were watching, and went outside.

**~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~**

"Hmm...take that." Unei and Shun were playing chess at his house, and Unei was winning. "Check."

"That's it. I give up. You always win during chess no matter how we play." Shun complained.

"Eh, I said 'check,' not 'checkmate.' Your king's in danger of being taken, but you can move your other pieces, though." She pointed to one of Shun's pawns on the board. "Did I ever teach you how to do en passant?" (look it up on Wikipedia)

"En- what?" Shun asked in confusion. "How is that related to pawns-" Suddenly, there was a _thump!_ sound at the front porch. "What was that? I hope we don't have a burglar."

"Maybe your mom came home." Unei suggested. Time passed, but no one came in. "May it's _not_ your mom."

"I'll be right back." Shun got up from his seat to the front door. He opened it to see a familiar box. "What is this?" He picked it up, opened it, and was in the greatest shock of his life. _No way, this can't be..._

Again, time passed, and Unei was getting impatient. "Shun, who is it?" No response. Unei became worried and ran to the front door. "Shun!" He was nowhere in sight. _Oh, Shun, please be here somewhere! And Shiori-san, please don't come back yet!_ Unei locked the door and ran outside to find Shun.

**~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~**

At Dr. Gehabich's house, Clara and her father were carry the things that she and Alice brought here back onto her truck. "That's about it." she announced. "We should get going as well. Dad, _now_ do you know how to fix that leak in the roof?"

"Yes, I do. Thank you Clara and Alice for coming here. Are you sure you can't stay any longer?" the doctor asked.

"Sorry, Dad, but I wish. I had to call my employer the other day to tell her that I might have to stay for one more week. She was nice enough to let me go this time, but that was it." Clara gave Dr. Gehabich one last hug. "But, I promise to visit you when we have time, okay? Bye Dad."

"Bye Grandfather!" Alice waved. She got on the passenger seat while Clara adjusted the booster seat.

"Goodbye, Clara! Goodbye Alice! See you next time!" Dr. Gehabich waved back as the truck drove off.

Suddenly, Alice remembered that she had dropped of the box back at Shun's porch. _Forget it. It's not like he's going to go after you or anything._ But Alice was wrong. From her side of the mirrors she saw a young boy running and catching up to the truck.

"Alice! Wait up!" Shun yelled. Alice didn't want to see him or hear his voice. "Alice! Why?!"

"Auntie, didn't you say that you bought Nana Mizuki's most recent complication album, _The Museum II_? Did you bring the CD?"

"Mm-hm. You want me to play it?"

"Yes, please." Clara pressed a few buttons on the stereo, and the song _Romancers' Neo_ played. The music was loud enough to cover up Shun's yelling.

Suddenly, something splashed on the windshield. "Is it raining?" Clara asked rhetorically. "The news didn't say anything about rain on today. I'd better bring the windows up." Alice sighed in relief when Clara brought the windows up, for Shun won't be able to see her through the tinted windows.

Shun eventually gave up, seeing that it started to rain. _Why, Alice? What did I do wrong? I just want to be friends with you._ Shun wanted to cry so badly but just couldn't. _Why?! _Seeing that the rain was getting heavier, Shun ran into a tight space and slowly cried, holding the box in his hands really tightly.

A long time later, Unei was still searching for Shun around the area. _Shun, please be here somewhere!_ She was still freaking about how to tell Shiori about Shun gone missing, but suddenly, she saw a familiar sight. "Shun!"

Shun was lying down by a tree. "Shun!" Unei immediately opened another umbrella and keep Shun dry. "Shun, what happened to you?" After seeing Shun not respond to her and his face covered with saline, she took out her phone and called the hospital.

**~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~**

Shiori rushed in to the hospital frantically after receiving the news. "Unei! How's Shun doing? Is he alright? What did he do? Where did her go?" She back up, seeing that Unei was getting freaked out.

"Shiori-san, Shun and I were just playing chess when we heard a noise at the front door." Unei explained slowly. "He went to check who was there, but later, he went missing. I found him lying unconsciously by the trees down the local roads."

Shiori burst into tears as Unei comforted her. The doctor came up of the room and asked, "Who here is the guardian of the child?"

"I'm his mother." Shiori replied. "What is it?"

"We need to talk." The doctor and Shiori went to the side to talk, while Unei opened the door and went inside to see Shun.

She saw the papers on the diagnostics and saw the one word that shocked her: pneumonia. _But how? How did Shun get pneumonia? _She heard Shun's voice mumbled a few words. "What is it, Shun?"

Shun had a tough time breathing, due to pneumonia. He took his time and whispered, "Alice..."

Unei was even more shocked. "What do you mean, Shun? What about Alice?" She backed up slightly. _I don't get how you can get pneumonia from being in the rain, but I know you'll get something._

"Alice...why...come back...don't leave..." Just those 6 words was enough for Unei to make a conclusion: it was Alice's fault. Shun coughed really loudly, and for Unei, Shun's condition was definitely not a sight for sore eyes.

"Hang in there, Shun." Unei said. "I promise that you'll get better soon." She gave him a pat on the head and went outside. _I don't know what you did to Shun, Alice, but I will definitely find out._


	8. Bipolar Weather

Ten Years Later

**~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~**

"Like, it's not as if we're just going to just stay at home the entire time. We might go out to go shopping once in a while." Alice told Mira. "Besides, I didn't know that you were in Bayview. I never see you, though."

"Well, just because you never see me around doesn't mean I don't live around here. Ace told me that one of his friends was moving here to Bayview, so I might as well help out." she replied. "Miss Clara, how far away are we from the agency?"

"Not far at all. We just need to get through this traffic jam." Clara was right. Mira and Alice could both see the college application agency from here, but the traffic jam made the entire situation go bad. "Shouldn't the traffic light sensors be able to sense that there's a long line of cars waiting?"

"Oh, Auntie, remember when I was taking my driver's education test drive? I would've made it past the left-turn light if I was following the other cars more closely. Once there's no car behind you, that light changes from green to yellow to red." Alice complained.

"That seems tough." Mira replied. "During my test drive, they had 'artificial traffic' made by putting random traffic lights and automatic running mini-cars. It looked more like charades."

Soon, the traffic went back to going smoothly again, and Clara dropped the girls off at the agency. "I'll be back in an hour, okay? Mira, please take care of Alice for me while I'm gone. See you later!" Mira and Alice waved Clara goodbye as she drove off.

"Okay, Mira." Alice declared. "Time to get working. We can't let the agency people have a bad impression of us because of how we acted."

"Agreed! Come on!" They went inside to the lobby and checked in with the receptionist.

"Excuse me," Mira asked. "we're here for the college preparatory screening and interview."

"ID cards and application forms, please." the receptionist requested. Mira and Alice each handed in their papers. "Let me see...what a perfect high school record you have now. Straight As, maximum GPAs, community service...please have a seat for now until somebody called your name."

"Yes!" Alice silently yelled. "Did you see that? Perfect high school record! We are going to get into college with a scholarship for sure."

"I know, right? I've always wanted-" Somebody from the hallway called for Mira. "Got to go. See you soon, Alice."

**~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~**

"Dude, why bother by a Christmas present for someone that's not here? That's just wasting your money. At least just do something simple." Ace complained. "Not to mention, you just moved here. Shouldn't you be focusing on the stuff in your house?"

"You are so heartless, Ace. What would you do if your mother was gone but wanted to do more than just bring a bouquet of flowers to her grave?" Shun yelled back to Ace as he carried a small gift bag. "The moving process is all done, but I'm still occupied with picking someone up at the airport sooner or later."

Ace wasn't believing things. "But you just moved here! So many things happening lately. Who _are_ you picking up at the airport?"

"A female friend of mine. People asked if she was my girlfriend, but I told them, 'I don't date girls older than me.' They didn't believe me until they saw her."

"Right...so is she going to come over to your house for winter break? But what about you and your school?"

Shun stopped walking. "Okay, I lied. I'm not really moving here, but I _might_." Nothing was making sense at all. "You see, after my mother passed away, the house didn't belong to us anymore, and my grandfather said to move here to this house for now. This is also where my female friend lives."

"Oh...I get it. So you're staying here until you find a new place to stay? You have a tough life. You're a senior, right? Because if you are, then I don't want to lose those credits that you earned for 3 and something years."

"Thanks for being compassionate, _Ace_. Where is Tentochi Airport anyway?" Shun replied sarcastically.

"No worries, Shun. I can ask my parents to drive us there to pick up your _female friend_. What's her name anyway?"

"Unei. Unei Kogawa. She's like an older sister to me. I'm so glad that she could let me stay at her family's house. By the way, weren't you going to see some Mira person or something?"

It was Ace's turn to stop walking. "I think she's at the college application agency with her friend, but I should call her anyway." Ace took his phone out and called Mira. "Mira, are you done with the interview?...Already? Great! Wait, what?...No problem, I'm unoccupied...okay, give her a call so she knows. Bye!" Ace hung up.

"Let me guess, you're leaving." Shun concluded. "You can go. I should be able to navigate around here." Ace immediately left, leaving Shun behind. _I really need to get home._

Suddenly, it started to rain. _What the heck?! This present is going to get ruined!_ Shun ran as fast as she could to find some kind of shelter.

At the agency, Alice came outside to the lobby after Mira finished and left. _Oh dear. It's starting to rain. Thank goodness I brought an umbrella._ Alice's phone rang. "Hello?"

"Hi Alice." It was Clara. "Mira told me that she left early, and it's raining right now. Did you bring an umbrella?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Well, it doesn't matter because even if you were to walk back home in the rain, you'd suffer from the intense freezing. Why don't you just wait for me until I get there? I'm in bad traffic again due to the precipitation."

"Aw man. Sure, Auntie. I'll wait. Be careful on the road, though. Bye!" Alice hung up and sat in one of the chairs.

"I'm sorry," the receptionist said. "We're currently closed for lunch break, so you'll have to go outside."

"Um, how long does lunch break take?"

"One full hour. You really have to leave."

"Oh, okay." Alice exited the building and opened her umbrella. _Auntie, please be here soon_.It was already getting cold after a few seconds, and Alice was shivering. _Oh, why didn't I bring a jacket with me? Stupid bipolar weather! _Minutes later, Alice was already a human popsicle.

Shun, on the other hand, was still running between each drop to rain to find some kind of protection from the water. Then he saw something that was absolutely perfect. "Excuse me!" He ran as fast as he could to a girl carrying an umbrella. "Can I-"

"What the heck? What are you-" Alice and Shun's eyes met, and everything just stopped. _What's going on? Who is he? Why does he look so familiar?_

Shun couldn't help but stare and think about Alice. _Who is she? Have I seen her before?_ Alice and Shun still stared at each other silently in the cold, freezing rain.


	9. Sick Again

Alice and Shun were still staring at each other awkwardly until Clara pulled up by the sidewalk in the rain and rolled the passenger window down. "Sweetie, are you ready to go now?"

Alice stopped staring at Shun once she heard Clara's voice. "Sorry, Auntie. I was just talking to this guy who asked where he could buy an umbrella real quick. Coming!" Alice ran to the door, leaving Shun splattered with rain again.

"You know," Clara said. "maybe we could have hot pot tonight, but that means grocery shopping. Who cares! Let's go!"

Alice snapped the seat belt in place and said, "Yeah, Auntie. Let's go." As she reached for the seat belt, Alice noticed that Shun was still staring at her in the rain on the sidewalk. _Why won't he leave? Doesn't he know that he's going to get sick?_ Alice rolled her window down slightly. "Excuse me, but if you really need an umbrella, then here."

Shun looked at Alice as she handed him her umbrella. He took it, but before he could thank and ask her anything, Clara drove off already. _Why was she lying about me looking for a place to buy umbrellas? Why did she help me?_ Anyway, Shun opened the umbrella and walked home.

At the Kogawa residence, Shun took his shoes off as he was greeted by a man. "Good afternoon, Shun. My, what have you been doing? You're all wet and cold! Hiroto, get me some towels!"

"It's okay, Kogawa-san." Shun closed umbrella and brushed the water off himself. "I'm fi—achoo!" He sneezed so loud that Hiroto could hear Shun from upstairs.

"I wouldn't classify that as 'fine,' Shun." Hiroto came downstairs with some dry towels and a comb. "I really don't get how you got wet even if you have an um-" Hiroto stopped to looked at the umbrella Shun was carrying. "Dad, that's not our umbrella."

"Well, at least Shun has _something_ to cover himself with. Why don't prepare a plastic hot water bottle for him? I'd better take your temperature, Shun." Mr. Kogawa and Hiroto left as Shun stared at the umbrella. Suddenly, Mr. Kogawa yelled, "We ran out of medicine for colds! Wait, maybe I could ask a neighbor." He picked up the phone and dialed a number.

"Seriously," Hiroto whispered to Shun. "this is the first time my dad asks his neighbors for cold medicine." Shun and Hiroto couldn't help but laugh.

**~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~**

"Alice, it was really nice of you to give the young boy your umbrella, but that was the _only_ umbrella you had." Clara complained. "And it happened to be an umbrella that _I_ paid for."

"I know, Auntie. I'll pay you back." Alice reached for her wallet, but Clara stopped her.

"I was just joking, Alice." She put her hand on top of Alice's wallet. "I understand that you want to help that boy out, but strangers are strangers. I'll let it go this time, but if I see you doing it again, I'm not letting you go out alone. Got it?"

"Yes, Auntie. Do you need help with making lunch?" Suddenly, somebody knocked on the door. "Must be Mira. Be right back!"

"Well, I do need someone to defrost the meat. Why don't you deal with Mira first and then help me? I still have to wait for the fire to warm up."

"Okay, Auntie." Alice replied. "Hi Mira! You want to stay for lunch? Auntie, can Mira stay for lunch?"

"No, really, please." Mira replied modestly. "I'm just returning your binder, Alice. I must have taken this by mistake when I left early." She took a violet binder out from her bag. "Here."

"Oh, Mira, it's so rainy outside. Just at least have at least something-" The telephone rang, cutting of Clara. "Wait. Hello?...Oh hello, Mr. Kogawa What do you need?...Tylenol? Let me see...Yes! I _do_ have some. A new pack as well? Would you like to-...Oh, okay. I'll bring it. Goodbye." Clara hung up and faced Alice. "Sweetie, can you deliver this box of Tylenol to Hiroto's house? Somebody got sick."

"Sure, Auntie. Mira, why don't you just stay here? And can I borrow your umbrella too, Mira?" Alice asked. Mira agreed and gave Alice her umbrella as Alice rushed out the door with the box of Tylenol. "Bye!"

It was a really long way to the Kogawas' house, and the rain, mud, and puddles made everything worse. Luckily, the rain stopped for a moment, and Alice was at their doorstep. The door opened after the doorbell was rung. "Who is it?"

Alice couldn't believe her eyes. The person who answered the door was the boy who ran into her earlier. "Hi. I, uh, wanted to-" Alice saw Hiroto walking in the hallway. "Hi Hiroto! You live here?"

"Hey-" Hiroto swallowed a piece of food. "Is that the Tylenol? Dad, we have Tylenol!"

"Oh hi, Alice. Are you bringing the Tylenol for Miss Gehabich?" Mr. Kogawa asked. _Her name's Alice...Alice Gehabich? _Shun thought. _What a nice, yet familiar name._ "Shun! What are you doing here? Don't you know that it's still raining?" Mr. Kogawa snatched the Tylenol. "Sorry, Alice. Shun, read the directions and take your medicine. Inside, now! Alice, why don't you come in as well?"

_His name is Shun, but Shun Kogawa? That doesn't sound right, but who knows?_ "Thank you, Mr. Kogawa. Excuse me, uh, _Shun_. I need to take my shoes off."

"Sure, _Alice._ I-" Again, Shun sneezed so loudly that it went all through the house. "Sorry."

"Gesundheit." Hiroto replied. "Alice, would you like to stay for lunch? We've already cooked everything."

"No, thanks. Mira's at my house, and-"

"Oh, come on! When do you ever get to come over to our house? Just sit at the table and we'll do the serving. Shun, I thought I told you to get in here. This is the reason why you always get sick and sick again. Sheesh."

_Sick again? That explains why they need so much Tylenol. But why doesn't Shun carry an umbrella with him or wear any rain gear?_ Alice never understood that point. "Well, okay then. I guess I _could_ stay. Let me call my aunt first." While Alice punched the buttons on her phone, Shun called Hiroto over.

"Hiroto, who is she anyway?" Shun whispered.

"Alice? She's a senior at my high school. Usually, she comes to my house to 'babysit' me whenever Dad has to work overtime, but that's very rare. And she lives kind of far from our house."

"Right...babysit? You're a junior! You don't need a senior babysitter. That would be like having one of your friends stay over at your place. What else?"

"Well, she's been here for a _very _long time, like..._almost_ her entire life. She also has a grandfather that lives far away, but they rarely visit him, though."

"Where does he live?"

"This city or town that starts with the letter W. I remember it really well because we were partners for some student interview in bio class in my freshmen year, which was her sophomore year, so she told me about it. Why do you want to know this?"

"Hiroto, Shun, Alice! Lunch is served. Wait, it's one two o'clock already? Wow..." Mr. Kogawa announced. "Alice, why don't you sit next to Shun, even though he is kind of sick." He looked at the two empty seats. "I hope those chairs get filled by Christmas. Anyway, let's eat!"

Soon, everyone started eating except for Shun. "Shun," Alice asked quietly. "what does Mr. Kogawa mean by filling those empty chairs?"

Shun was surprised that Alice asked him and not the others. "You're asking me? I think he means that hopefully, my grandfather and Hiroto's sister get here before Christmas."

"Hiroto has a _sister_?"

"You don't know? Like, you _have_ been here for a longer time than me."

Suddenly, Alice had that same feeling she had earlier when Shun bumped into her on the sidewalk and when she learned Shun's name. _Something's not right. First Shun, then Hiroto's mysterious sister that I never knew of. What is it about them that makes me get this indescribable feeling?_


	10. Stop Following Me

"Wait, so you mean you think there is something wrong about him?" Mira was getting nowhere with Alice was trying to tell her. "Maybe you're just having a bad first impression of him. He's the guy that Ace was helping with moving in on."

"Wait, what?" Now it was Alice's turn to be confused. "So, he has nothing to do with Hiroto or Mr. Kogawa? Then that means-"

"Hang on, I got a call." Mira answered her phone. "Hi, Ace. What's up?...Oh, I'd love to! I'll see you at the shopping mall. Bye!" Mira hung up in a very excited fashion. "Oh, I love Ace so much! He's going to take me out for lunch and go shopping later! Bye, Alice!"

"Bye Mira." Alice sighed as she waved Mira goodbye. All of a sudden, Alice heard someone walk up behind her. "Who's there?"

In front of Alice was a very surprised Shun who "freaked out" from Alice's abruptness. "Oh, hi, uh..."

"Shun." he replied. "Remember when you delivered that box of Tylenol to our house?"

"Oh, I remember. Shun...Kogawa?" Alice didn't know Shun's real last name, but she wasn't sure if he really was a part of the Kogawa family. "So what are you doing here? Aren't you still sick?"

_Did she just call me Shun Kogawa?_ "I'm getting better, but Ko—ahem, my-" If he was going to play along, then Shun had better start calling Mr. Kogawa by a relative term. "My _uncle_ thought that it's be better to have some fresh air once in a while."

"Oh, so your _uncle_ said so." _No wonder he looked so different from the family. He's just __Mr. Kogawa__'s nephew._ "You didn't bring an umbrella with you, nor did you wear a raincoat. Anyway, I'll let you have your fresh air walk. See you...sometime." Alice walked down the sidewalk and was soon out of sight.

_She seems like a regular person, but maybe there's more to her story._ Shun let a sigh of relief as he walked down the sidewalk as well.

At a local Walgreens drugstore, Alice decided to buy some more cold medicine in case she herself or Clara got sick. _Hmm...I wonder if I should buy a box of Tylenol for the Kogawas, just in case. _Alice put another box of Tylenol in her basket and looked for other stuff.

Along the aisles were Christmas cards and gifting material, on-sale chocolates, decorations, and costumes. Alice saw a Christmas tree shaped box of Ferrero three-mix (regular, dark chocolate, and coconut) chocolates. "I'll take this one." She reached for the box on top but then realized, "Huh?"

Also going to grab the box was Shun. "Alice. I didn't realize that you were going to buy this. Here, you can take it."

"Shun? What are you-" Alice looked around. "Oh, you can take it. I'll just get another one-"

"This is the last Christmas-shaped box of Ferrero 3-mix chocolates in stock."

Alice looked back and forth between Shun and the box. "Well, I was going to buy it along with other stuff for my friends, so it's not that important. You can take it."

"You sure? I have a spare present to give to Unei when she comes back, so-"

"Wait, who's Unei?"

Shun realized that he was telling other people about Kogawa family matters. "Since you're friends and in the same high school as Hiroto, I'm just going to tell you that Unei is Hiroto's older sister."

Alice got a little shocked by that. "I, uh...thanks for letting me take this box of chocolates." She took it quickly from Shun's hand and went to the cash register.

Alice exited through the automatic doors and went to the Misakis' cafe across the street. All the tables, including the seats at the counters, were occupied. _I think I'm going to order take-out at this rate._

"Hey Alice." Runo greeted as she skated down the floor with a tray in her hand. "I think you're going to have to wait for a seat. Whoever knew that we would be so popular in only two years? What would you like?"

"Just a regular fried rice and sushi bento to go. I do not feel like sitting here."

Runo laughed. "Alice, you are so funny. One regular fired rice and sushi bento to go, please!"

After Alice paid Runo the bill and took the bento (which came with a fork), Alice had no choice but to eat out on the patio chairs and tables in the cold. _At least I have something to eat._ She was going to take a bite when she realized that there was a huge mess in front of her. "What the heck is this?"

"Sorry. I'll clean it up n-" Alice saw that it was Shun. "Alice, what another coincidence."

"Yeah...a _very_ coincidental coincidence." Alice put her fork down in an angry manner. "Shun, I don't know what your problem is, but will you stop following me? Are you a stalker?"

"No, well, yes, but-"

"Just leave me alone! From the first time I laid my eyes on you, I just know that there was something wrong with-"

Suddenly, it started to drizzle, and Alice's food was getting wet. "What are you-"

Shun opened an umbrella over his and Alice's heads. "This is why I was following, _not_ stalking, you. Yes, I was just out here to get fresh air, but when you asked me why I didn't have an umbrella or any rain gear out, I remembered that there was going be a shower today."

"But how and when did you get this-" Alice looked up. "Wait, this is _my_ umbrella, the one that I gave you."

"Exactly. I carried it with me the entire day ever since I came out. I also realized that _you_ didn't have any rain gear or umbrellas, so now do you get it?"

Alice blushed in embarrassment after Shun explained everything. "Oh dear, I'm so sorry. You see, I thought that I'd be able to get home before it rains."

"No problem. It was you who gave me the umbrella to use and delivered the box of Tylenol, so I might as well let you have that box of chocolates and cover you up from the rain with this umbrella. Would you like to pack up your food? I have to throw this trash away anyway."

After cleaning up the table, Alice ate her food while Shun held the umbrella above them. "Alice, can I ask you something?"

"Hmm?"

"Well, yesterday, Unei called, telling us when her plane will arrive. However, the date is interfering with a basketball game that Hiroto has and an awards ceremony that my uncle has."

"Well...?"

"Seeing that you know the Kogawas really well, maybe you can come with me to go pick Unei up at the airport?"

"Excuse me." Alice choked on a piece of sushi. "Wait, so _you _want _me_ to come with you to go pick up Hiroto's sister?"

"If you want to. Your response to me the other day about Hiroto having a sister was very surprising, no offence, so maybe you'll meet her in person by going to the airport with me."

"None taken. Sure, I'll come. By the way, how is moving in getting along?"

"Who told you that?"

"Mira told me that her boyfriend Ace was helping you with moving your stuff in."

"Oh, Ace. Well, a deal's a deal. Here's the date." Shun took his phone out to show Alice a calendar. "Can you make it?"

"Of course I can! Tentochi Airport, right? I know where that is. Um, I'll call you maybe about an hour or two early to tell you that I'm leaving. Okay?"

"After we give each other our numbers first." Shun requested with a smile.

Alice took Shun's phone and dialed her own number on it. "There. Simple as that."


	11. Gentle Moments

"Tentochi Airport? Now?" Clara asked. "What are you going to do there?"

"Oh, a friend of mine asked me to with them to pick up their relative." Alice replied. "Ugh, I'm late. Bye Auntie!"

"Okay then. Take care!"

Alice left her house and walked her way to the airport. "What a nice sunny day it is today." she exclaimed. "Compared to the rain showers from the past couple of days, this is a rare sight." A sunny day like this sure brought a smile to Alice's face.

"Hi, Alice!" Ace greeted as he was carrying boxes of things in his hands. "What's the hurry?"

"Oh, I'm just going to Tentochi Airport with a friend." she replied. "I can't be late. Where are you going?"

Runo, who finally caught up to Ace, placed her boxes down and rested. "So many people making reservations at the cafe for Christmas parties that we don't have enough supplies in stock." She cleared her throat and continued. "This guy here happens to be the son of the manager of United States Postal Service and has to help some of the boxes as well."

"Stop saying that, sheesh! Tentochi Airport?" Ace asked with an emphasis. "So you're going to pick up Shun's _female friend_? Without me? He asked me first to go along with him!"

Despite knowing _part _of the truth, Alice blushed a little. "F-female friend? You've got it all wrong, Ace. We're going to pick up Hiroto's sister. Anyway, got to go!"

"Hiroto has a sister?" Runo asked. "Unbelievable." She and Ace continued carrying the boxes to the cafe.

Alice ran as fast as she could to the airport while thinking about what Ace said earlier. _So you're going to pick up Shun's female friend?_ She stopped running and took a deep breath. _Calm down, Alice. There is no need to overreact to irrelevant information._

"You sure got here early." Alice freaked out and saw that it was just Shun behind her. "You forgot to call me as well. Thank goodness that I got delayed a little by helping Hiroto with packing up his duffel bag."

Alice calmed down and replied, "Oh, I'm sorry that I didn't call you, but you just scared me out of nowhere." She looked up the text of Unei's arrival time on her phone. "Wait, we're already late by twelve minutes. How is that possible?!"

"We _are_?" Shun went inside and looked around for the plane departure and arrival times. "Not good. Unei's plane got delayed. The screen said that one of the landing wheels lost a bolt or something and rolled off course of the landing strip."

Alice ran up to see the screen. "What horribly bad luck this is. I guess we have to wait." Suddenly, Alice remembered what Ace said. "Shun, why didn't you ask Ace to come along?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I saw him earlier, saying that _you_ went to the airport to pick Unei up without _him_. What was that about?"

"Eh, _he_ asked _me_, but that was before when Hiroto or Ko—-ahem, my _uncle_—-were occupied on this day." Shun moved closer to Alice. "I hope he didn't say anything else..."

"Well...I...uh...he-"

Shun backed up from Alice and smirked at the same time. "Just kidding. Sometimes Ace comes up with a lot of exaggerated nonsense. But really, _did_ he say anything else?"

"He _did_ say something about some 'female friend' or yours. What's that supposed to mean?"

Shun stopped walking and turned around. "Did he _really_ say 'female friend'? I was just telling him about picking up Unei someday this month. Then he asked if she was girlfriend, and I said no. Now he refers to Unei as a 'female friend' and attempted to come with me today to see what she looks like.

"Oh, thank goodness she's not your girlfriend." Alice accidentally blurted out.

"Why so?" Shun asked confusingly.

Alice blushed from embarrassment and thought of an excuse. "Because...I certainly wouldn't date my own cousin! It's like dating your own sibling, only, your DNA isn't that similar. But still!"

"Not only wouldn't I do that, but I don't date girls that are older than me. It just sounds...wrong. Anyway, do you have siblings?"

"Nope. Both of my parents died when I was young, so I was the only child they had. Now I live with my aunt. I have a paternal grandfather, too, but I rarely see him. Except for this one time in which we had to remodel his house. Ugh, the horrors. You?"

"My mom passed away recently, and my father lives too far away. The only thing I have left that's really close by is my uncle's family. That's why I moved in. The house back in Wardington that we used to live in wasn't placed in my mom will or anything, so we lost custody of it. My grandfather is trying to find a house somewhere that we can settle in before Christmas."

"That's really sad. I wish i could help, but I don't know how. It's been a while since I last went to Wardington."

"Actually, you can help by -wait...you've been to Wardington?"

"That's where my grandfather lives." Alice noticed that Shun was just looking at her. "Is something wrong?"

Shun looked away and sighed. "No, nothing at all." _I knew that I've seen her somewhere, but just where? Wardington? Everything is making sense __and__**no**__ sense at the same time. _"Look! The passengers on the plane are now in the terminals. Let's go!" Shun grabbed Alice by her hand and ran to the gates and terminals.

When they reached their destination, Alice let go of Shun and felt a tingling sensation in her hand. _Where have I felt this before? It's so...familiar __and__ warm._ "I don't see your cousin anywhere? Where is she?"

"Of course you don't see her. You don't know what she looks like."

"But _do_ know what she looks like. Unei's right there!" Alice covered up her mouth after realized her cover was blown.

Shun looked at where Alice was pointing. "You're right, but I thought you never saw here before."

Alice had to come up with another excuse. "I've seen pictures of Hiroto, Mr. Kogawa, and this girl in some pictures around your house. I just didn't know who she was until now."

"Hiroto sure has a good relationship with his sister, you know. Unei! Over here!" The chocolate-haired girl, dressed in a khaki trench coat, a black-red-white weaved pattern scarf, and a pair of black satin flats, carried her luggage case to where Shun stood. "Unei! You look so distinguished!"

"Thank you, Shun. The last time I saw you was during your elementary school graduation. Now you're about to graduate from high school! I saw the video of your middle school graduation, though. Valedictorian, huh?" Unei looked over to Alice. "Hi there! Who might you be?"

"Yeah, this is Alice, Unei. Alice, this is Unei. She's Hiroto's sister that you never knew of."

"Hi, uh, Unei-_nee_. I'm Alice. Alice Gehabich."

"Hi Alice." Unei greeted with a smile. "Nice to meet you. Have we seen each other before?"

Alice looked at Shun, who looked at both Alice and Unei. "What's going on?" Shun asked.

"I don't know. I've only seen Unei in some of Hiroto's pictures, but I never knew who that girl really was until now."

"I could've sworn that I've seen you before."

"Doesn't matter. What's important right now is going home." Shun offered to take Unei's suitcase. "Agreed?"

"Agreed!"


	12. A Little Bit Too Direct

"Unei, are you really, _really_ sure you met Alice before?"

Ever since Unei came back from Hong Kong and the "incident" at the airport, Shun nagged Unei at every chance he had to get to tell him what she really knows. However, Shun wasn't getting the answer he wanted.

"For the last time, _yes_, I _have_ seen her before. You don't recognize her?" Now Shun was really confused. "Shun, I thought that you knew Alice already. Why else would you bring her to see me?"

"Actually, Alice is friends with Hiroto, yet she never ever knew that he had a sister. That's why I brought her to see you. Why else would it be?"

"Because you knew that then three of us knew each other already."

"Unei, that makes no sense. It's as if you're asking me if Alice was my girlfriend when she's not while at the same time, I'm trying to tell her that _you're_ not my girlfriend. I can't believe I said a huge lie."

Unei put aside the hanger and got down next to Shun. "What did you lie about?"

"That Kogawa-san was my uncle and that you and Hiroto were my cousins. I feel really bad about it. Not only that, I also lied to her about my grandfather, too."

"What about Kazami-sama did you lie about?"

"I just told her that he was in the vicinity looking for a house. Unei, can you please help me? I don't know what is it about Alice, but ever since I saw her, I'm getting tingling sensation that she's really close to me somehow."

"Wait...when did you see her, for the first time?"

"I was just trying to find shelter from the rain, and I happened to see her carrying an umbrella. I ran over there, tried to duck under, and before you know it, we were staring at each other in the rain as if-"

"Shun Kazami, did you say that you were standing and staring at her _in the rain_? Shun, I told you not to do that! Wasn't Dad or Hiroto or anyone with you?"

"I'm sorry, Unei, but I lost control of myself. I don't know what I was doing. Unei, just exactly how did we meet each other? When, how, where, what, who...none of this makes sense."

Unei got up and sighed. "It's a really long story, Shun. It's best that you don't remember what happened."

Shun suddenly went furious. "Then why are you telling this to me if you think that it's not good news to me? You're saying that we all know each other, but you're also saying that we shouldn't be around each other. What do you want?"

"Enough! If you really want to know, then you find out for yourself. Alice is just like the rain. The longer you're exposed to them, the worse your body is getting. No matter how long time has passed, rain will still be rain, and Alice will still be Alice. I'm only doing this for your own good."

"You're not my mother! You can't tell me what to do! I don't know what you have against Alice, but I'm going to tell her everything that you told me. Some bad first impressions this is. I'm leaving, and I'm _not_ going to bring an umbrella."

"Shun, wait!" Unei ran after him, but being a ninja meant being really fast. "Ten years." she scolded herself. "Ten years, and the same thing is getting repeated. Looks like I can't do anything about it at all."

**~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~**

Alice stood at the edge of the pier and stared into the distant bay. _Unei Kogawa...where have I heard your name before? There's something about you __and__ Shun that makes me wonder a lot, but what is it?_ Alice walked around the wooden posts until she saw a familiar face. "Shun?"

"Alice! Over here!" Shun ran as fast as he could to catch up to her. "Alice, are you okay?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Nothing that important. Um, can I ask you something?"

"You have to pick up another friend?"

"No, not that. It's...have we met each other in the past, like a long time ago? In a different, maybe faraway, place that we both knew of and went to?"

"Hmm...Now that you mention it, we've both been to Wardington before. Like I said, my grandfather lives there. We rarely see him."

"And I _used_ to live there. When was the last time you saw him?"

"Ten years ago. I remember it really well because his house needed remodeling, and it happened to be my only winter break that I didn't spend in Russia with my extended family."

"And that also happened to be my only winter break that I didn't spend with my father."

"Oh?" Alice reacted. "How coincidental. You know, my winter break would've been very boring if it wasn't for this kid and his older sister, I think. I kind of forgot their names now. I wish I could remember who they were, though. We had to leave in such a hurry."

_Everything that Alice is saying seems to contradict what Unei said, but they all happened at the same time._ "What are you going to do, if you ever remember and meet them again?"

"I don't know, but I wish I could just see them one last time."

"Why so?"

"My aunt wants me to go study abroad in England when I graduate from high school. She's already planned everyth-"

"You can't go! There is no way that you can leave!" Shun realized that he was overreacting and calmed down.

"Shun, what's wrong? You seem really hyper. And why are you bringing up such a weird conversation?"

Shun turned away, knowing that he asked too many personal questions. But there were still a lot of things that Shun didn't understand. "We'll talk about that later. What do you mean, you 'left in a hurry'? What happened?"

"Actually, I really don't remember why. The last thing that I did was return a box to someone. Then we came here, back to Bayview."

Shun was starting to remember a lot of things, but they still weren't in sync with what Alice or Unei said. "What would you do if that 'kid' you met a long time ago stood in front of you at this moment?"

Alice looked around nervously and faced Shun again. "I wish I could apologize to them."

_Is this what Unei meant by for my own good? Did Alice do something to me that was so terrible? But she looks really remorseful right now._ "Would you say sorry to me now?"

Alice looked at Shun with slight hatred and fear. "Y-You? No way. You can't be the little boy that I spend most of that winter break with." Alice kept shaking her head and denying everything.

"Unei was right. You're just something that will hurt me, like the rain. You'll never change! But guess what? I waited for a long time to see her again, this is what I get? Do you want to know what my real name and identity is?"

"R-Real name and i-identity? Shun, please! I don't what you're talking about? Why are you asking me all of this?!"

"My name's not really Shun Kogawa, and neither am I related to the Kogawas by blood. My really name is Shun _Kazami_."

"K-Kazami?" Alice backed up and almost tripped on a wooden plank. "Shun? Is it really you? I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to leave and return your jade char-"

"You still remember that?! Let me tell you something. I've already started liking that little girl ever since ten—you heard me, T-E-N—years ago, and I still do. What really surprises me is that I still like her, even though she returned that jade charm to me, even though she left me without a word, even though she lied to me! I don't even know what to do now. I can't decide between your 'apologies' or Unei's warning."

After that long lecture, Shun stepped back and ran away. "Shun! Come back! Can't you just listen to me?" Running after Shun was no use. _What have I done? I thought that I'd never see them again. But even if we were to see again, why must it be in such a terrible way?_ Alice cried as the rain drizzled on her face.


	13. A Fatal Game of Hide & Seek

"Check...or is it checkmate?"

Hiroto and Unei were playing a game of chess, and as usual, Unei was winning until Hiroto moved his queen over.

"Actually, that's only a check, because I can use this pawn to do en passant on _your_ pawn, and therefore, my king is still safe." Unei took Hiroto's queen and put down next to her. "Your turn."

"I'll move my rook here so that you can only take my king by diagonals."

"Bad choice." Unei move another one of her pawns a step further into the enemy's territory. "If you don't mind, I'm going make this pawn my queen." She took her white queen that Hiroto previously ate and replaced her pawn with it. "Checkmate."

"What? I thought that my rook would protect your pieces from the front..."

"But you forgot about the back. It's like holding ten thousand shields in the front but not a single piece of armor in the back. Snack time!" They got up and went to the kitchen. "By the way, did you see Shun on the way when you came back?"

"No, not at all. Why, what happened?" Suddenly the telephone rang. "I'll get it! Hello? Hi Alice!" Unei looked up at Hiroto and the telephone. "How strange. Onee-san was just asking about him. What happened? I'm sorry, Alice. I can't hear what you're saying. Are you crying or is it raining?"

"It's raining, Hiroto, and hand me the telephone." Unei took the telephone and put it against her ear. "Hello?"

"You have to help me! I don't know what happened. Shun and I were just talking, and the next thing you know, he ran away! What do I do now? I'm scared that he's going to get hurt in the rain-" Alice stopped talking for a moment. "Wait, am I talking to Unei?! You-"

"You better bet it is." She covered the microphone. "Hiroto, go get the others and tell them that Shun's missing." Hiroto nodded and left in a hurry. "Yes, I told Shun everything. Is there a problem?"

"Unei, how could you! Why did you have to tell Shun something so terrible and cruel? Now he's missing!"

"Right..._now_ do you know how Shun felt when _you_ left him without a goodbye? He wasn't the only one who knew about you returning that jade charm."

"I'm sorry!" Alice cried. "I thought I'd never see you guys again!"

"But you did. You'll never know what's going to happen."

"Is there anything I can do to make it up? I really never expected this to occu-"

"Expect the unexpected, Alice. Things that you do will come back at you."

"I don't want you to teach me lessons! I want just want to help find Shun!" Alice cried harder as the rain poured heavier. "At least let me have an umbrella..."

"Are you serious? Shun had to endure the heavily pouring rain from chasing after you in your aunt's truck. The only difference is that he was really young and weak, but you're mature and strong. Enduring a little rain wouldn't be painful, now would it?"

Alice trembled at the thought. "I-I-I didn't know about it. He never told me."

"Of course he wouldn't tell you. Look, I really don't want to just stand here and chat with you. If Shun gets any life-threatening disease again, the first person I'll be looking for is you." Unei hung up furiously and reached for her rain gear. _Shun, not matter what happens, you're going to be okay_

"Wait!" Too late. The line was cut, and Alice cried even harder. _Life threatening disease? Again? What does she mean? Did Shun get life threatening disease in the past because of the rain? If so, then he's in terrible danger right now._

**~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~**

"Shun! Shun, where are you? Please come out!" Hiroto's search party consisting of Ace, Mira, Runo, and Mr. Kogawa searched everywhere. "Shun, stop hiding!"

"This is no use. Not only is Shun _not_ appearing, but the rain is getting heavier." Ace pointed out.

"Maybe Shun's somewhere that will protect him from the rain. That's more likely." Mira suggested.

"I don't much of any trees around the pier, hopefully, finding him will be easy." Runo worried.

"Good thinking, kids. Why don't we split up and search different places?" Mr. K. ordered. "We all have each other's phone numbers right? You can just call Hiroto to find me. Let's go!"

"Wait! Isn't that Alice?" Everyone looked at where Hiroto was pointing. "What is she doing in this terrible weather without an umbrella or rain coat? Alice!"

Alice looked up and saw Hiroto. "Oh, Hiroto! I'm so glad to see you! Is there anything I can do to find Shun? I'm so, so, _so_ sorry about what happened to him and everything I did."

"Alice, what are you talking about? We don't understand."

"She and Shun met a long time ago back in Wardington, but Alice left without a word." Unei came over and held an umbrella over herself and Alice.

"Unei? But why? After everything I did...you're not mad, at all?"

Unei looked away from Alice and told everyone, "Looking for Shun is the most crucial thing right now. We should really look in places that have protection from rain or closed spaces."

"There's only one part of the pier around here that fits into the description: over back there away from the harbor." Alice replied.

"Goo thinking, Alice. Everyone move to where Alice was talking about." Mr. K. led everyone away from the harbor and searched. "I don't get it. Why would Shun do a crazy thing like this?"

"He didn't have any rain gear with him when I last talked to him." Alice commented.

"Guys! Hiroto, Runo, and I will search over here. We'll be back soon." Mr. K. yelled. The others waved them goodbye as they kept searching.

Alice, Unei, Ace, and Mira searched their area high and low to see of Shun was around here. The rain continued to pour heavier, and they already started to lose hope.

"Why would Shun just run off like that? And in the rain, too." Ace sighed. "I'm sorry that I wasn't by Shun's side when he got wet and sick from the rain."

"And I'm sorry for calling Ace away when I should've just stayed with Alice at the college application agency." Mira apologized.

"And that led to Shun and I meeting each other on that rainy day." Alice added.

"Ace, Mira, I don't blame you at all. I was still in Hong Kong, so I couldn't watch over Shun 24/7. Alice, at least you were nice enough to give him your umbrella." Unei thanked.

Suddenly, a swift shadow flew past, catching all four of their attention. "What was that?" Mira asked while shivering.  
>Ace held his chin up like he was Sherlock Holmes. "According to what we saw, which was a shadow, the speed of the shadow, and other things, we can conclude that it was Shun."<p>

"Ace, you can't be serious. This is no time for games or playing detective." Mira yelled. "Please be mature and reasonable. After being in the rain without any rain gear with him, he probably can't move or go anywhere that fast."

Unei suddenly had a thought. "Wait...games? Could he be-?"

"I don't care!" Alice closed her umbrella and gave it back to Unei. "Shun, just wait! I'm coming and I will definitely find you! I promise to pay back for everything I've done!" Alice ran away as well, leaving the others dumbfounded.

"Wait a minute, Alice! We don't even know which direction Shun went!" Mira tried to stop Alice, but it didn't help.

Unei snapped her fingers. "Hang on. I think I know what Shun's doing."

"What is he doing?" Ace and Mira asked simultaneously.

"He's playing hide-and-seek."

"Say what?!"

"It was the last game that Shun and Alice played before she left, and Alice was the last person he talked to. Only, _this_ is going to be a _fatal_ game of hide-and-seek in which only Alice can find him."

"Why?"

"Because Shun got pneumonia the last time he was in the rain for too long."


	14. Wishing for Endless Rain

A lot of time already passed since Alice ran away to find Shun. Even Mr. Kogawa's team gave up on searching their area. The six of them met at the edge of the pier again.

"It's no use." Hiroto complained. "Who would ever want stay out in the rain? Even the snails would freak anyone out by then."

"But Shun's not a wimp, Hiroto." Runo corrected. "I think that Shun is really serious about running away and not coming back."

"That could make sense, only who is he running or staying away from?" Mr. Kogawa asked.

"The second most important thing is finding Alice." Mira added. "She ran off after we saw what _looked_ like Shun."

"I still think it was Shun." Ace protested. The rain poured even harder and deformed some of their umbrellas.

"I think we should call it a day." Unei suggested. "It's really hard to navigate in this weather. I just hope that they know to come back. Let me try calling Shun to see if he responds."

"I'll call Alice." Runo and Unei dialed numbers on their phones and waited. "Alice won't answer."

"And Shun turned his phone off." Unei replied. "I can't call it a day yet. I'm still going to look for Shun. I'll go back when it gets really dark. Don't worry."

"Okay then, sweetie. Good luck and be safe. Everyone else, we'll stop here." Mr. Kogawa declared. "Better go home and dry off. Would anyone like to stay over at our place for dinner and plan for tomorrow's search?"

"Sure." With that order, everyone walked back to the Kogawas' residence.

Unei stayed behind and went to the one place around the area that hasn't been searched yet. _I know that you're going to be hiding in here, Shun. I just didn't bring everyone else over so that it won't be ruined._

Meanwhile, with Alice, she was still searching everywhere, high and low, for Shun. "Shun! Where are you?! Please just come out! I'm sorry for everything I did! Really! I never meant any of it."

Alice stopped running and coughed really loudly. _Now I know how Shun feels when I left him. I ignored him, just like how he's ignoring me. Is this what they call payback?_

At the same time, Unei was heading for that area where it hadn't been searched yet. _So you really are here._ Unei wanted to take a step further, but she saw Alice in the distance and backed up. _So that's where Alice went._ She listened to every word that Alice cried out loud and the guiltiness Alice now had about leaving Shun behind.

"I never, _ever_ wanted to leave you." Alice cried. "I wanted to tell you that I was leaving, but then you came to my house all of a sudden with that beautiful jade charm. You looked to happy that I didn't want to hurt your feelings."

_So that's the story behind Shun looking for that box __and__ going to Alice's really quick..._

"But you did." Alice was surprised to see Shun come out of nowhere. "You did. Not telling someone what really happened, even if it's bad, is the true meaning of hurting someone's feelings."

_He's got a point about that. Alice DID leave without a word._

"S-shun?! I-I d-didn't know you were here. I didn't expect you to show up all of the sudden."

"Expect the unexpected, Alice. Unei taught me that. I never expected that you'd leave without a word."

_He's got a point about that as well._

"I'm sorry, Shun. I know that you won't accept my apology, nor will you let me explain, but can I just ask you a question?"

"What is it?"

"Does that young boy still like the little girl that he spent that one and only winter break with?"

_What the heck is wrong with Alice...?_

Tears rolled down Shun's face, although it blended in with the rain. "Yes. Yes, he still does. But did she ever like _him_?"

Alice began crying as well and wiped her face. "Yes, she did. The only problem was that she couldn't just tell him that she was leaving because it would ruin the happiness. Don't you think so?"

"You're right..."

_Well, Alice had a point there as well. I wouldn't do that, either._

"And since she left and never came back, would it be nice to accept something from someone and just leave all of a sudden?"

"Yeah, it wouldn't be nice."

_Hmm. Another point proven. Is this really what happened?"_

"She thought that she's never see him again, so she returned the box quietly back to him. She even folded the note neatly back into its original form to make it look untouched."

Shun looked up. "You...you read the note?"

_Must have been a really important note if Shun's overreacting like that._

Alice nodded. "Yes, I did. I read every single word in that note over and over and couldn't help but cry that I didn't tell you that I was leaving. There was no turning back. I just had to leave that instant."

_That was still quite cold-blooded of you to do that, Alice._

"So you never meant to leave in the first place?"

"After that game of hide-and-seek, my aunt thought that it was best for me to stay inside and away from you. I wished I could stay longer, but I still had to leave. Wardington isn't my home."

"And because of chasing after your truck, I got-" Shuns topped talking and held his chest tightly. He coughed so badly that Alice thought he would cough out blood. "You win."

"What do you mean?"

"I found and beat you in hide-and-seek ten years ago; you find and beat me in hide-and-seek ten years later."

"Shun, this is not the time to joke around. What's wrong with you?"

"Pneumonia. I'm very prone to it, no matter how those vaccines and medicine protect me."

Unei wanted to come out and help Shun, but that would mean interrupting the whole explanation scene. _It's Alice's turn to take care of him for now..._

Alice couldn't believe the sight in front of eyes. "Shun, this is all my fault. If I had told you everything earlier, none of this would've happened, and now I regret everything. I'll make it up to you in every way I can! What do you want me to do?"

Shun grabbed Alice's hand really tightly. "All I want is to meet the little girl I met ten years ago again in this rain again."

"Your wish is granted." pinkie-promised Alice. The rain gradually decreased, and very light shadows formed from the faint sunset. "The rain's over. So much for good times."

"And I wanted to meet her again _in _the rain." Shun added. He hugged her, making Alice blush crimson. "Thanks for telling me what really happened, Alice. I guess it was really worth being sick for you after all."

"And I just hope that you can forgive me for everything. I'm really sorry, for the last time. If only time can go back and everything was reversible."

"Forget about the past, Alice. That was all yesterday. Let's focus on today, tomorrow, and everything that we have right now. I really want it keep on raining, though, no matter how sick I get."

"But that's not good for you."

"You're going to be sick with me, right? By the way, this is for you." Shun took out the exact same jade charm that he gave her ten years ago.

Alice looked up at Shun. "That's what I used to ask. Of course I will, no matter how unsafe and stupid that is. Wait, is that..."

"You gave it back to me after I gave it to you. I hope you don't give it back to me again."

"I'd never do that because I won't be leaving you this time. Oh, what happened to the rain? It was so perfect."

"I hope the rain continues pouring. It's getting boring."

"I agree. I wish the rain will never stop pouring." Suddenly, Alice got a text message. _From Unei? But how? And why?_ Alice opened the text.

_"We finally know what happened now. Good luck to you __and__ Shun. -Unei"_

"What is it, Alice?"

"I'm so glad that Unei was there for you."

"Me too."

The rain poured harder again, and the sunset was over. Alice and Shun still stood there, hugging each other in the rain that brought them together, separated them apart, and revealed the truth that brought them together again.


End file.
